Imagine two different workers in two different industries: Worker A and Worker B.

Worker A is an engineer for a tech company, who works 6 days a week and 10 hours per day. He receives a solid salary with a comprehensive benefits plan from his company, but he only has a week’s worth of paid-time-off, including sick days.

Worker B is a marketing manager for a digital agency, who only works on the weekdays and usually works from 9am-5pm. He also receives a health salary, but not as much as Worker A, and just a 401k plan and health insurance from his agency. However, he does receive two weeks of paid vacation days and 5 paid sick days.

From the short summary of these two workers, which worker is happier?

I’m not surprised that a lot of people would choose Worker B over Worker A. Worker A may receive better compensation for his job, but he definitely has less time on his hands to do anything else. Meanwhile, Worker B receives less compensation than Worker B, but has more time to commit to his hobbies and personal activities.

Personally, I would want to choose the life of Worker B than Worker A.

Why? Because of work-life balance.

Now you can make the argument that Worker A is grinding now to rise up the ranks to have more free time later in the future, but if both workers were at the pinnacle of their careers, then Worker B is the most appealing career for me and here’s why:

“Me” Time

Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs some “me” time. “Me” time is the one time where you can have the entire day (or half-day) to yourself. The one time where you are the priority and no one else. Feel like sleeping all day? Go for it. Want to play Xbox for 6 hours? Nothing’s stopping you.

It’s a unique way to relieve your stress, improve your mood, and explore your character. You can even use your “me” time to go through the various aspects of your life. Do you want a career change? Are you satisfied with the direction your life is going? These “me” times are a great time to re-organize your priorities, relieve some stress, or to see how you want your future to be.

Relationships

Regardless of the industry, I want to have the ability to spend time with those closest to me. You want to cherish the strong relationships you have now to show how much they mean to you, especially since these types of relationships are not easy to come by. Spending time with family members, best friends, your spouse, or whoever you hold close to you is important as ever.

These people have basically gone through a lot with you and understand the ins and outs of your personality. Creating extra time to keep in touch with those closest to you will increase your happiness and even increase your efficiency at the workplace!

Let’s Have Some Fun

Fun. It’s a 3-letter word that everyone needs in their life. Without it, we’d basically be considered robots- all work and no play. Unfortunately, there are large amounts of employees who are suffering from “no fun” syndrome due to the ridiculous amount of hours needed to work at their jobs. This should never be the case for any worker.

Employees should always have time to have fun and pursue activities that make them happy. Build a model plane, go to various bars and restaurants, or explore a new country. Just do something that makes you happy and forget about the workload you may have waiting for you at the office.

It’s important for everyone to create some spare time to commit to other activities, whether it’s by yourself or with those close to you. Everyone deserves to be happy, and a healthy balance between their personal life and their work life will help make that happen. If you’re a workaholic, take a break and have some fun. You’ll be surprised by how much you can learn about yourself and how productive you will be when you go back to work.